About the Journal

What is The Science Museum Group Journal?

The Science Museum Group Journal (ISSN: 2054-5770) is an open-access online publication presenting the global research community with peer-reviewed papers that are relevant to SMG’s collections and practice and to the wider international science museum community. The Journal provides an innovative voice in discussions worldwide about science and its history, material culture, communication, display and presentation in museums. The Science Museum Group Journal is published biannually in spring and autumn. We reach a wide readership of academics, museum professionals, members of professional bodies, societies and institutions, and others interested in science museums.

Who can contribute?

We warmly invite contributions from international scholars and practitioners interested in the work of science museums generally. While the Journal content is driven by a passion for research into the Science Museum Group’s collections and practice, we are not just interested in our own work and authorship. Academic discourse needs multiple voices and stakeholders and the goal of the Journal is to be a space for museum scholars, practitioners and students to develop open but rigorously grounded conversations.

The publishers

SMG comprises four of the UK’s greatest national museums: the Science Museum (London), the Museum of Science & Industry (Manchester), the National Railway Museum (York) and the National Science and Media Museum (Bradford). The Group has Independent Research Organisation status with major UK Research Councils.

The Journal is published by the Department of Research and Public History, based at the Science Museum (London). For more information regarding research projects operating within SMG, please visit the Research and Public History Department home page.

Subscribe

You can subscribe FREE to the Science Museum Group Journal (click the 'Subscribe' button on the homepage and select the Journal from the list of newsletters at the bottom of the page). You will receive an e-newsletter with notification of when the next issue is available online (spring and autumn of each year) as well as occasional relevant information from the Journal and the Science Museum Group’s Research department.

The Science Museum Group Journal respects your privacy and will not share your e-mail address with third parties, nor will it use your e-mail address for any purposes other than those mentioned in this statement. You may unsubscribe at any time.

Open access statement

The Science Museum Group Journal is an open-access publication, meaning that its content is freely available to anyone, anywhere. It is committed to providing, via its own website or via third-party distributors, immediate and unrestricted access to the final published version of its articles. These are made available using the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence, which conforms to the most widely accepted definition of open access. This allows for the use, copying, reproduction and adaptation of articles, free of charge, so long as the appropriate citation information is used and on the understanding that third-party material included in the article, such as images or multimedia, may not always be licensable in the same way. Wherever it is reasonably practicable for us to do so, we will signpost any third-party material contained in our articles that may be subject to different licensing restrictions. Copyright in the content of and publishing rights to all articles is retained by their authors.

All images provided by the Science Museum Group/Science & Society Picture Library (SSPL) are provided under the CC BY NC licence for the benefit of the Journal and its readership. The entire SSPL catalogue can be found on the SSPL website.

DisclaimerArticles in the Science Museum Group Journal may feature elements that are taken from publically created or accessible sites on the internet, such as Youtube, Vimeo and Soundcloud. The Science Museum Group has no control over and assumes no responsibility for the content, privacy policies or practices of any such third party website. The views stated on these websites are solely those of the original author and are not representative of the Science Museum Group. The Science Museum Group shall not be liable for the content or accuracy of any material or comments that may appear on these external websites (whether such material or comments are visible from looking at the Science Museum Group Journal or otherwise).

Contact us

If you have any queries about the Science Museum Group Journal you can contact the editorial team – Kate Steiner (Editor) and Richard Nicholls (Assistant Editor) – at richard.nicholls@sciencemuseum.ac.uk